FPL Lies

What you did not see in Flagler this year: FPL’s staging area at the Flagler County Airport last year, after Hurricane Matthew, when FPL’s operation transformed a large section of airport grounds into a small city for line workers. There was no such staging ground in Flagler this time. (c FlaglerLive)

Maybe Florida Power and Light’s response to Hurricane Irma elsewhere in Florida has been sublime. It certainly sounds that way, listening to FPL spokesmen in its selfie videos. I don’t know. What I do know is that in Flagler County, FPL’s response has been disgraceful, deceptive, and secretive, at times at the expense of local emergency responses, at all times at the expense of residents—the company’s customers. Irma was bad. FPL made it worse.

I’ll get to the details. First, a disclaimer: This has nothing to do with Florida Power and Light’s line workers. Like many others through Hurricane Irma—first responders, emergency management teams, school staffers at shelters, all sorts of government workers (those same governments people love to bash, stupidly and reflexively, but without whom we’d all be lost), and innumerable ordinary residents—these utility-worker grunts continue to be the storm’s heroes. Too bad they won’t be at the receiving end of FPL’s stock dividends.

But let’s make this clear: the reason you haven’t seen FPL trucks in your neighborhood isn’t your imagination deceiving you. It isn’t that the trucks are a couple of streets over. It isn’t that FPL is working magic through different means. It’s because the trucks aren’t there. It’s because FPL chose to send them elsewhere, letting Flagler County’s needs drag. It’s because FPL is deceiving you.

We keep hearing from FPL that 21,500 workers are deployed in the state in the largest such effort in the company’s history. Great. But it doesn’t mean squat when few of those trucks are in Flagler. It’s just a great marketing pitch to throw out in company “news” releases and see blindly parroted by our own officials, to FPL’s delight, the way Palm Coast’s city manager did this morning at a council meeting, as if it means anything. Not to take anything away from Palm Coast’s and the county’s response to the storm, which has been terrific (FPL could learn a lesson from Palm Coast and Flagler County government) but the fact that the manager of Flagler’s biggest city apparently got snowed by FPL’s marketing and didn’t ask how many of those numbers were in his city tells you everything you need to know: let’s not upset FPL. Millions of customers are suffering for lack of power, still a quarter of Flagler’s population as of today. But let’s not upset FPL.

The hell with that.

Two days ago I called FPL’s media line to get an answer to that question: what is the actual size of FPL’s force in Flagler. It was my mistake, trustfully offering the question ahead of time. No wonder they never called back. They just lied by omission. The phone flacker parroted to me the 21,500 number and said she’d have someone call me back. (The flacker, as it turned out, was an FPL hired hand from rbb communications, a PR firm whose mantra is “rbb Communications wants to help your company become a Breakout Brand.” If that’s not a perfect illustration of how the corporate solipsism of “branding” is taking precedence over customer service.)

I pressed County Administrator Craig Coffey on the proportion of line workers in the county this morning. He knew the answer.

There’s been an FPL representative at the county’s Emergency Operations Center all this time, though he’s not allowed to talk to the media, of course. But he talked to Coffey. And he told him: there’s a quarter of the FPL force in Flagler for Hurricane Irma than there was after Hurricane Matthew. A quarter. And you remember how long it took for power to be restored during Matthew. Those were not easy times, either. (I’ll bet my FPL stock FPL’s nuke-powered PR war room will deny the fact.)

Not that you’d need FPL hiding that fact to know it to be true. Last year after Matthew one of the most striking things I saw while reporting the aftermath of the storm was FPL’s staging operation at the Flagler County Airport. It looked like a small city, with hundreds of workers under a colossal tent, eating, drinking, resting between long shifts, enough equipment and trucks for a small Normandy invasion, and trucks endlessly in and out of there. These days at the airport? Zilch. Nothing. A great place to land a sparrow.

Maybe it’s because in the interim FPL opened that big facility and staging ground near Florida Hospital Flagler, you say, and all the action is there? Well, I spent the last three days squatting at the Hilton across the street, with a good view on that expanse of an FPL parking lot. There was a little activity there, to be sure, but the sort of activity you’d associate with a summer storm down on Seminole Woods, not a hurricane that took out upwards of 90 percent of Flagler residents’ electricity. In other words, Flagler’s FPL trucks were elsewhere. But FPL will never tell you that. It’ll just repeat that line about the 21,500 workers. In essence, a lie, so far as Flagler is concerned, wrapped in a truth irrelevant to Flagler.

Hurricane Irma was bad. In Flagler, FPL made it worse.

Honesty would have been more honorable, about this and so many other questions, if only FPL could even get its spokesmen to answer reporters’ calls. It would have immediately fostered more forbearance for the company rather than mistrust. But that mistrust began after FPL, just before the storm, projected that 10 to 20 percent of customers would lose power in Flagler, and apparently deployed its crews accordingly. In other words, elsewhere. Clearly, it never readjusted after the storm.

There’s something worse than the poor response in Flagler that FPL isn’t telling you about, and that our own emergency officials have been wrestling with. That’s FPL’s secrecy regarding its outage mapping system. The company obviously knows where the outages are, what size its outages are, who’s getting taken care of and who’s not and why down to the last hovel. County emergency officials could use that information so they know where to send help, where to send water, food, emergency supplies, when the power is out beyond reasonable limits, and do so in a more targeted, efficient way, rather than the fishnet approach they’re forced to use currently. They could—they should—know that information so as to disseminate it to residents who need to plan, who need to know whether to book another hotel night, who need to know whether it’s wise to drive home from wherever they evacuated to.

But FPL has not been sharing those maps or the planning the maps would facilitate. It’s not done so with county emergency officials, let alone the public, for two reasons, the county manager told me: first, FPL allegedly doesn’t want the “bad guys” to see the maps, which supposedly can become maps to miscreance. Fair point, but not applicable when the map would also be available to law enforcement, who’d respond accordingly. That’s why even county officials don’t buy that excuse.

Second, FPL’s mapping system has had its technological issues, which is one of the many, many examples of where the company hasn’t invested its profit billions in the last many years. (We’ll get to those billions in a moment.) It may be 2017 in Flagler, but it’s still 1955 East Berlin for FPL.

The company has used its local EOC personnel to coordinate with local officials on greatest needs, and certainly many of those needs were met, but that’s only part of the story, and it veils the broader issues that betray and explain FPL’s unnecessary failures and secrecy. Here we have a monopoly company playing NSA with our own local emergency officials and holding communities hostage to its silence, all the while projecting that image of a team of superheroes by using its linemen as shields to its own venality.

How? FPL has been arranging media outings with its line people, to put a human face on the workers. The editor I work with thought it’d be a great idea to go on one. I did too. But I was invited to one yesterday-in St. Johns County. Today the invites were for Daytona Beach, again as if Flagler County might as well be Madagascar (where power outages are FPL-like). I wasn’t about to stop telling Flagler’s stories to go on an FPL flack trip out of county.

Then I thought about it: sure, a nice human-interest story like that would be instructive. But in the scheme of things, it’s just another scheme, a way for FPL to deflect attention from its executives’ lushly compensated incompetence to those line workers everyone justly considers heroes and would never dare criticize. Stories like that will get into the mechanics of a particular fix, the heart-wrenching stories of that neighborhood maybe, of that particular crew. But it won’t tell you a thing by way of hard information you need to know. It won’t tell you why or how FPL flubbed its response, hid information, shirked Flagler’s needs. It’s brilliant PR. It’s not news. It’s also deception.

The deception has continued for days, even as far as media is concerned. For seven years I never had a problem immediately getting callbacks to whatever questions or problems I was reporting on. It got a bit difficult during Hurricane Matthew, though not nearly so difficult after I ran into FPL vice president Rob Gould, who’d come down to Flagler Beach during one of Rick Scott’s visits last October. (Not that it should take any reporter contact with a company VP to grease the communication lines.) Gould is the company VP for communications—affable, unpretentious, forthcoming. Back then, anyway. Not a word from him or his army of PR staff this time despite several calls and emails. The best one I got was from Bill Orlove, a superb contact during the Matthew days, whose automated answer this time was: “I am currently in my FPL storm role. I will have limited access to email service.” That about sums up FPL spokesmen’s storm role: out of service. (As I write this, still not a word, no email, no call back from FPL, and my romance with Orlove is apparently over.)

There is one other lesson we don’t have to wait for the after-action report to see. That’s FPL’s vaunted infrastructure. The company had 12 years after 2004’s trio of hurricanes to improve its backbone. It had Matthew’s lessons to do so in Flagler. But while we hear about its “investments” in “state-of-the-art” infrastructure in every other press release, we’re not seeing its dividends.

Irma was never the devastating storm it was projected to be in Flagler. Emergency Management weather maven Bob Pickering’s reports show that top winds never went beyond 83 mph, and that was one such recorded gust. There were a lot of lesser gusts, but with sustained winds topping out at 54 mph. That’s not minor. But it’s not the sort of storm that should take out 94 percent of a state-of-the-art utility’s infrastructure in Florida.

Or for a utility that has been flooded in money and profits for the past decade—another set of details FPL would rather you not pay attention to right now, which is why, again, it’s diverting attention to those line workers paid by the hour.

But the numbers are instructive. Especially now, in Flagler’s time of spoiled food, dark nights and days of heat index topping 120, as measured at Bunnell Elementary Thursday.

FPL is the cash cow to parent company NextEra. NextEra’s stock price grew 275 percent since Florida was last struck by that spate of hurricanes in 2004. It’s been breaking new records for days, even as you’ve been sweating it out. If the lives of the rich make you feel better, there’s this: Eric Silagi, the FPL CEO whose name you’ve been hearing quite a bit these days, has a compensation package of nearly $4 million. Moray Dewhurst, the company’s CFO, clocks in at nearly $9 million. James Robo, FPL’s chairman, who’s pulling in $16 million. I wouldn’t mind spending a day in their bucket truck.

FPL profits in 2016: $1.7 billion. That’s profits, not revenue. And those record profits by the way were during the year of Hurricane Matthew. Not a dent in FPL’s stash. To the contrary. A substantial increase. In 2015, FPL’s profits were $1.65 billion. In 2014: $1.52 billion. “FPL said its growth was driven by continued investments in clean, efficient, modernized generation, as well as a stronger and smarter grid, to further improve the already outstanding efficiency and reliability of its system,” the Palm Beach Post reported, parroting words from an FPL press release.

“Stronger and smarter”? Tell that to Flagler.

FPL is a monopoly. It has no competition. It sets its rates in part by going to the Florida Public Service Commission, periodically making its case for rate increases and usually getting its way, because the Public Service Commission is essentially an adjunct of the utility industry. Unlike other ostensibly private companies, utility companies like FPL are guaranteed profits. Other companies take risks. FPL builds in its profits in its rate requests from the PSC, and usually exceeds its take.

You’d expect its infrastructure to be as beneficial to its customers as it has been to its stockholders. You’d be wrong. That’s why FPL can make glib promises to its investors, as it did in its second-quarter report a few weeks ago, which showed FPL profits of 17 percent for the comparable period the previous year: “NextEra Energy continues to expect adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $6.35 to $6.85 for 2017. For 2018, the company expects adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $6.80 to $7.30 and in the range of $7.85 to $8.45 for 2020, implying a compound annual growth rate off a 2016 base of 6 to 8 percent.”

Few companies in few industries can make these promises. FPL can.

It doesn’t make promises to its customers. It flubs their repair ticket. It tells them their power has been restored when it hasn’t. It keeps them in the dark, literally, about when they may get their power back, except with pointless generalities like “by the end of the weekend.” It can’t tell you when it will conduct a repair that takes 20 minutes. But it can project profits of 6 to 8 percent to its investors through 2020. Sublime.

Thank you for great article again Mr.Tristam. Very in depth journalism. I just want to add that its possible to fight government sponsored monopoly like FPL in Florida. Vote with your $$! We are blessed with sun power here and if more people installed solar PV panels less fossil fuel would have been used while residents would’ve had power 5 days ago.

I’ll still defend the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Just because only 40,000 fpl customers lost power in Flagler makes us no more important than 100,000 in another jurisdiction.

However, Fpl’s website stated my power was restored. I hurried home but I looked. The switch for my street was still disconnected, a yellow service tag attached to the wire. I did not in fact have power at my home or shop. I drove to area with the damaged power lines and nothing had been done to make it safe to restore power partially down my street. I have since reported my complete power loss and the ticketing system shows it as a problem with my under ground. This is a lie and fpl should know about it since I have three smart meters and a smart switch which are all powered down because of the power lines down on the ground half a mile from my home.

Exactly what I would have done……..I would have sent the vast majority of my repair crews to the areas of greatest devestation…..Miami/Dade and Ft. Myers/Naples areas. Business is business, yet I hear no “clamoring of the masses” in Flagler county demanding underground utilities! I’m sure the vast majority of county residents would not want to bear the “additional expense” , ultimately the end user bears the cost of all such improvements.
Irma smashed the “power infrastructure” on a breadth and scale encompassing the entire STATE, Not solely in an “isolated region” of the state. Yet we see the same power poles/transformers/ above ground power lines being replaced in the same exact areas they were replaced 7,8,9 and 10 years ago during similar weather occurances.
So folks don’t be surprised when FPL raises our rates to pay for underground utilities that will be more protected during storms. That’s what we all want

Tristan until now I have never agreed with anything
You have written you might say I dislike your way
Of thinking but in this case you are spot on I have been saying
Exactly what you have said since I woke up after the storm and
Heard that jackass vp from fpl say stop calling were busy piere Cudos
To you on this accurate piece of reporting I never thought I would be saying
This by the way growing up in south Florida and mostly the keys we called FPL
Flunder Plunder and Loot

This article disgusts me! Do you think Flagler County is the only place in Florida effected by Hurricane Irma?!?! Those men and women work countless hours and are away from their homes and families! They cannot just turn a switch and power magically appears! We have more flooding compared to Hurricane Matthew how do you expect trucks to reach power lines safely. Spend a day in a linemans shoes in the heat and all the elements now and tell me how your day went!

Did you ever stop to consider that Matthew only affected a small portion of FPL’s service area while Irma has affected every square inch of it, plus most of the other company’s areas as well. Of course the response for Flagler County is different this time, we’re not “ground zero”. For Matthew, FPL was able to move resources from down south to here to help with our recovery. Obviously, that couldn’t happen this time. And let’s not forget that a large population in Texas is still recovering at the same time using much of the out of state resources that would otherwise be here helping. I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it, resources are limited. FPL concentrates their resources where they can get the most customers back to normal. With the population density being much higher in South Florida than here that’s probably their highest area of concern, probably as it should be.

I live in the P section and told the 33 houses without power are at the ‘end of the grid’. Everyone around the 33 houses has power. Why didn’t they repair the transformers a few hundred feet further at ‘ the end of the grid’. Our outage was reported on Sun evening and givedpn a ticket #. Than the site reports that we have power, be sure to check your breakers. I believe we are on the 4th ticket!!! Why is it repeatedly indicating it’s repaired when it’s not, 4 times!!!! Our 33 houses plan to request a meeting with FPL rep when this is over.

Flaglerlive. Would you all be willing to do a story like this about Spectrum cable? Your description of Folks would fit them. Especially when service worked until after the storm passed. They then lied to customers including myself and others I know.

Sorry but I have to disagree. Yes, we in BeverlyBeach were without power. It came back yesterday afternoon, and I am grateful. Like last year we have our power restored in acceptable time. We all want it fast, but truth is we don’t know what the delay is. I heard that several transformers went out. With a storm like we had patience is important.

how are we able to hold FPL in Palm Coast in Flagler accountable for the disaster in the B section specifically on Baltimore Lane in Palm Coast to absolutely ridiculous the power went out at 8 p.m. on Sunday and it’s now Friday afternoon and it is still out on Wednesday morning received a call from FPL saying that our power was restored and that if it didn’t work we were supposed to reset our Breakers of course everybody did that and the power didn’t come back on and it was a bit discouraging that they were just telling everybody to reboot furthermore they asked that we submit another ticket While submitting the other ticket there snarky comments were not appreciated either for instance they kept saying if they send an electric signal from the main office to our house and they can tell that we have electricity then they will just immediately cancel our ticket I mean like really that’s what we want to be hearing when we’re just helping you do your job where you thought you fixed it but you actually didn’t have a clue unfortunately we had to resubmit the ticket at 9:30 in the morning on Wednesday after doing so the webpage has remained the same saying that you guys are still assessing the problem and trying to find out what the problem is anybody on Baltimore Lane can tell you the problem is the down power line and the Transformer right up the street where the big tree was falling over the road everybody since Sunday night has known exactly why we don’t have power but yet over 5 days later FPL still is assessing the situation what is going on it took 4 days for them to get a danger line down sign next to the power lines a neighbor told me the only way that happened was by a neighbor calling in and saying the kids were playing around it but that’s the only way I got a tension and I’m sure everybody felt a lot safer with the sign out there palm.coast also has their issues with this the first fire truck that came down the road when it got to the police tape do not cross it went in reverse all the way back down Baltimore Lane following the law the next fire truck did not the next time they put it back up the police officer that came down did turn around and didn’t go through it however the next police officer just ran through the tape it’s also interesting to point out that it was actually a resident that actually cut the tree up to move it out of the road it’s also important to note that nobody has seen any FPL trucks at all not only on Baltimore Lane but anywhere in Palm Coast how can we hold them accountable on the radio you heard FPL was focusing on the big lines that were down and not the onesie twozies well what about the 50s what about the 50 people on Baltimore Lane still no truck Friday afternoon the word from the neighbors is the real reason behind this is because everybody is waiting till Saturday and Sunday to do the work in order to get the higher weekend pay on the radio they also said that FPL was following a process this leads me to believe they are not going to hold themselves accountable for the absolute disaster of a process that they call process everyone knows that in order to change things for the better you have to first understand which Parks you done wrong what is FPL recognize that they’ve done wrong what is palm.coast recognized that they have done wrong what does Flagler County recognize the day of gone done wrong this is absolutely ridiculous. maybe the only recourse is moving away from Palm Coast to Flagler County to a place where the government and the utilities will ensure good usage of the resources putting a focus on everyone like they did in Orlando where utilities from all over the country we’re helping put back up down power lines we all heard about that on TV why didn’t Palm Coast get any of this how do we hold them accountable

Maybe it is time to explore a municipal/citizen owned electric cooperative similar to JEA in Jacksonville Fl.. We would control our own electric supply and could save paying those multi million dollar salaries to a bunch of fat cat executives, parent companies, or stock holders. I don’t know what it would cost to set up, but it would mean competition to FPL and compedition is always good in helping to reduce rates to the consumers. If Flagler county and Palm Coast would work together to see if this were a viable option we could possibly end up with lower rates and better service at times like these. Just an idea!

There has been rumours of 2 fpl trucks followed by a blue and white boom trucks cutting trees around my wife said she saw they boys cutting trees down and fpl putting wires up after they fell she also said the power came on and by the ime she went back out to thank them they were gone thank you to those men in thoes trucks you guys ~are flaglers

While I agree that FPL has their shareholders as a priority and not their customers (like any company), you have to remember that the area affected afternoon this storm was basically their entire service territory, many of which were extremely densely populated. I’m sorry but a less populated county is not going to get to priority, especially one. Not impacted nearly as badly. I feel like this article was so filled with angst and the need to complain that logic was thrown out the window. Also, like mentioned, upgraded infrastructure isn’t free and a county with a smaller population is not going to get a preference there.

Sunday at 11:45pm is what they are telling everyone. It’s their official estimate for when the county will be done, yet I don’t see how they can possibly meet that number when their website says that almost 15k are still out and they only turned on about 500 customers today. (I’ve been watching the numbers change all day)

Lineman’s daughter – no one’s complaining about the actual work of the linemen. We’re complaining about how they are being deployed by FPL management and about the complete lack of information and downright lies about what the situation is regarding restoration progress and what we can realistically expect from FPL. Also, there are many many areas – including my own neighborhood – that have had no problem whatsoever with water that are still out of power. Yes, the water is to blame in a few areas for lack of power restoration. But in my area, there are nearly 200 customers (according to my FPL ticket) that are out of power due to a tree that was leaning on a power line. The tree was removed at noon yesterday. Nearly 36 hours later…we’re still waiting for the minor repair to the line that would get us all back power. Earlier in the week, FPL was blaming slow restoration on a lack of tree removal crews and told the media that once they get trees removed in areas they’d have crews right out to fix service. 36 hours and still waiting isn’t “right out”. They’re lying about what is really going on, and what the hold up is.

Of course a monopoly will abuse its position. That’s human nature; It will never be different.

With thousands of “regulations” (manipulations, intrusions, impositions, dictatorial
whims) in place, its nearly impossible for new competitors to arrive on the scene. All of these problems are predictable and shouldn’t surprise anyone who has studied economic history of the last 150 years.

With the horrible tragedy we just witnessed at a Hollywood nursing home, has anyone checked to see if all of Flagler’s nursing homes now have power? If not, do they have adequate generators for A-C? The Hollywood nursing home claims it contacted FPL several times and even the governor’s office. I hope the authorities who are conducting a criminal investigation will determine what happened to those phone calls. Make sure the phone tapes don’t suddenly disappear.

Exactly Ryan,
Our power dipped at approximately 4 PM Sunday . Then we switched to Generator power and had full cable/intent up to almost the end of the Giants game. Cable did not return until after the FPL power came back. Total BS. Spectrum Sucks just like Bright House best be refund in my next bill.

Thank you for such a thorough and well-researched article. Creek Court in Palm Coast is a short little street that STILL does not have power. It is shocking and disheartening to know that these residents, some of whom are elderly, frail and ill are suffering with a heat index of ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DEGREES (?!??!) while all the houses around them in the neighborhood have had power restored for days. No sleep, no air conditioning, refrigeration, ice, radio and television, news, or fans, just kindness of kindred souls. These members of the ‘Greatest Generation’ have lived through hardship and war. They need the routine of daily life in their homes to provide comfort and maintain independence. They have an inner resolve most of us will never know, and they never, ever ever ask for help. Please, please send help

Lineman have been in my neighborhood 4 days in a row making excuses on why they can’t fix the power, prime neighbors came together and fixed whatever they said need to be done now it’s basically f you. Back today and said we are assessing, you be been assessing the past 5 days. Figure it out we have done our part now fulfill yours . Not to mention the fuck you I got from a lone man.. literally fuck you he said.

It was several days following the storm that we were able to locate a utility truck in the county! In the past, we would always see a few. Due to the neglect and poor management of FPL they should be reimbursing families for food loss and inconvenience. There is no excuse that people have been without power nearly a week when Hurricane Irma was not nearly and damaging as the hurricane in 2016. Pierre, is there any kind of legal agency that would take legal action against FPL for the handling of this lengthy power outage that left us in the dark?

Do some of you people even read? He said the linesmen were heroes. His issue is with the corporate offices and the deception involved in gathering information. English comprehension – it’s a thing. His only complaint about the lack of power was that it would be nice to know who is out, for how long, and to have that information properly disseminated to city officials, law enforcement, and citizens. He’s not saying “flip the switch now,” he’s saying be honest, tell the truth, and stop lying.

Just got power back today after 5 days and it was over 100 degrees in my house. . Did not see one truck since the storm ended in the 5 days after until they came on my street to make the 20 minute repair. Didn’t even see one truck while driving through town the whole 5 days. Just another example of corporate America living large and us middle class suffering. It gets worse every year and something has to give.

This article isnt about the lineman. Idont think so anyway. Those guys are working like dogs right now and i feel bad for them. See, if u read it, it does say exactly that. This is directed to the higher ups of fpl and theyre crazy high profits and why the hell arent the lines already underground with that kinda income? I mean, it is florida and hurricanes do happen. I dont know the practicality of doing that and it would be a massive undertaking but the return in way less repair needs would be worth it id think. Also, alot of south florida is flooded right? And lineman cant or shouldnt work in a flooded zone cause its like extremely dangerous for them right? Ok, wouldnt it make more sense to spread the linemen out all along the areas that didnt flood to expedite repairs in those areas while, at the same time, the sewer trucks drain as much as possible down south? Less damaged/flooded areas would be back up alot sooner (north half of the state?) while the south half is at the same time made safer for the linemen to work? Itd have gone smoother if they swept north to south instead of putting most of their personnel straight down to the south end of the state where the flooding has got to be slowing them down. Its a logistical error in my opinion. I dunno i cook food for a living. But this seems like a better way run this operation. Maybe theres information im unaware of. But the lineman are killing themselves out there right now and The guys higher up the fpl chain of command seemed to have made things worse.

FPL and Duke were taken to Federal Court in 2016 for failure to return 2 Billion in taxpayer revenue that was supposed to go towards future nuclear plants. The plants were never built and both energy companies instead decided to spend the money instead of returning it to taxpayers. Look it up. Disgraceful

How about FPL and Flagler Beach residents get together and bury those lines? Has to be cheaper in the long run since we keep replacing the above ground ones over no over. In addition, they are ugly and potentially dangerous. Any one have ideas on how to implement this?

Imagine, if you will, the destruction of major elements of America’s entire power grid. Damage that could not be repaired for at least 18 months. Yes, 18 months without electricity for many. Imagine, if you will, and ask yourself how would you survive? Be prepared people.

Bottom line is they need to get another company to come in and help but FPL Is too greedy. I can not send my child back to school Monday w no power. She cant shower or get ready. Someone at FPL needs to be held accountable for all this since they dropped the ball. Maybe governor Scott can get them moving.

I don’t understand how the power went out on sunday Sept 10, 6:30pm when the weather wasn’t that bad yet. Did FPL TURN THE POWER OFF before the storm. We finally got the power on in the PR section Friday late afternoon an d last year with hurraine Matthew it took a whole week to get it back. My husband is on PD home dialysis an d couldn’t do dialysis for as many hrs that he needed to do because it was so hot, his feet were so swollen an d still not right yet. We had my mother in law over who is 84yrs old. How could the FPL play with people’s lives like that shame on you. SHAME ON FPL.

The problem with that is getting older conservatives to agree to paying higher taxes. This County is monopolized by them. We have more nursing homes and ALFS built than we do businesses geared towards younger generations. Then people wonder why so much crime in summer months etc.

A friend in the R section has no power as of this morning Saturday September 16th. Didn’t FPL get an increase from the PUC last year that will raise our rates considerably over the next three years? They keep saying we need more money to provide better and more responsive service.

Guess what my employer would do if I said give me more money if you want me to work harder.

For the first time I see an fpl truck and they are on the next street! Bud Hollow might’ve be getting their power back. It’s been 130 hours of no power for us. Holding off on the laundromat,and restocking the fridge. I have a generator,but the extension cords don’t seem so safe.

My wife and I lived thru Hurricane Andrew in South Miami. We were in our house when every window in the house exploded and we had to take refuge in the kitchen under blankets.

WE HAD NO POWER FOR 36 DAYS (Transmissions lines were downed)

Irma has been compared to Andrew, however the effects of Irma has been felt from Miami/Keys to Jacksonville. That is a much larger impact area than Andrew.

In the history of the US Electric Grid, this has been the largest impact on the system of ALL TIME

As an out of state Emergency Manager and Public Works Professional, my point is that yes, FP&L should do a better job with local points of contact, outage maps etc but at the same time this is all new territory for them and despite mutual aid workers from as far away as Oklahoma etc you can’t just “flip a switch” until you are sure that the feeder lines, transformers, vaults are all dry and inspected (otherwise you will take out another neighborhoods feed).

Better communication from FP&L (such as assigning County Liaisons to interact with local government) would help with information, however be realistic as to how quickly you should get your power restored given the magnitude of the event AND assumed prioritization for critical facilities so as not to have a repeat of the Miami nursing home tragedy.

I live in Grand Landings and have had power since Monday morning. We have underground lines and FPL was tremendous. If you have not seen FPL crews you have answered your own question when you state that the entire FPL grid was involved as opposed to a smaller amount with Matthew. They are working there butts off and doing a hell of a good job considering the scope of work they are facing.

FPL linemen our company has been working with are top notch guys and are working as quickly as they can to restore power. The blue trucks you’re seeing are with Halter Tree Service in Southern Indiana.

please don’t miss the major point of this article and all of the comments the major point being that FPL and our government have been lying to us since the beginning. they have been saying they have been working hard to get power back up for the residents of Flagler County now we all know that this has been a complete lie and it’s what we were all guessing all along the way if that is the case and that Miami and Orlando the bigger cities are more important then simply be honest and come out on the TV and the radio and say we’re sorry but Orlando and Miami are more important than flagler County and we will not be sending any FPL trucks to Flagler County for at least 5 days. furthermore what has been exploited is that FPL is horribly incompetent even if they are focusing on the right places they called us to tell us power was restored multiple times it’s not the case and they do not have a mechanism to update their website when they have assessed the situation and realize the problem I have to hope it’s web siteupdating problem and then it didn’t sincerely take them 5 days to realize that the fallen down power line and Transformer is what was causingI causing the outage their process is specifically broken and they allude to the fact that they could actually improve the process what I’m saying specifically is if they can send a signal to an endpoint and see if it responds or not then they can do that to multiple and points and by saying which endpoints it does get to and which ones it doesn’t get to create a map of where the failure points are and you should be able to see it and know it immediately especially when you bring up larger lines bringing online many more endpoints you should immediately be able to see all of the new failure points and so on and so on you should definitely have been able to see that when you enabled part of the B section that it still was not getting to over 50 different endpoints on Baltimore Lane I would go with a competitor that could accomplish that simple process if possible

I think everyone needs to take a step back and look around! I know it’s hot and I know it gets old not having power. However, if not having power is your greatest concern currently I think it’s time for you to be extremely thankful! How about this, instead of wasting time bitching on here, why don’t you take your energy over to the beachside and help some people that lost everything due to flooding. Maybe that’ll make your not having power not seem as bad!

An awful lot of pissing and moaning in this article about the supposed inactivity of FPL’s restoration crews after Hurricane Irma. But truth be told, our power was restored in less than half the time as with Hurricane Matthew. And many people I know went no more than a day without. I think that’s a pretty good outcome considering how many FPL customers across the state were left without power this time around.

Many years ago I lived in Jax Beach and everyone complained about JEA…so don’t think there are any easy answers. Our spoiled selves cannot seem to live without A/C….I know because I am one of them. Years ago generators were not available to the general population and I still don’t own one, but maybe next year. I am sorry for your loss!

We have been screwed by a Power company that cares more about PROFITS than people. Not surprising, since most all companies do it these days. FPL, SPECTRUM, ATT, AND MOST OF THE BANKS, AUTO DEALERSHIPS, INSURANCE COMPANIES AND INVESTMENT COMPANIES. You don’t get rich being honest. The failure of the electrical grid is a threat to our free society. We need options, and we need them now.

After numerous promises, their latest e-mail update has suddenly changed the date from 09-17 to 09-19. So, 2 more days of scrambling for gas for the generator, false hopes, 90 degrees inside my home. So yes. They DID LIE, and they continue to do so.

Because our Republican political leaders have “outsourced” VITAL electrical services to the “monopoly” of FPL who owes allegiance primarily to it stockholders by “maximizing profits”. . . FPL reduces costs any way they can!

An example is that they use cheap aluminum wiring on parts of their transformers instead of copper all the way through. For our house, on the beach side, the salt air eats through the aluminium wires rapidly. This was the case yesterday. So, although they turned the power on (after 6 days) 240 was pushed through 120 lines and fried our garage door opener and quite possibly our fridge. After much begging of a “linesman” my husband found down the street, we now have correct power.

Please note that from past experience with an FPL “contractor” breaking our water main, which flooded our yard and left us without water for days. . . . then tried to “HIDE” the evidence by burying it, which sent sand through our water pipes. A long story. We were told by an FPL manager that they are “decreasing their number of employees and outsourcing work to contractors”.

So, all of these “symptoms” of lying and the “run around” pointed out in this fine article. . . are linked to the same cause: Maximizing the Profits of a MONOPOLY to Satisfy Stockholders. . . INSTEAD of Providing High Quality Services to Customers!!!!

Yes, we need to take back control of such vital services! Yes we need to stop monopolies!

YES WE NEED TO MOVE AWAY FROM REPUBLICAN PHILOSOPHIES OF PRIVATIZING EVERYTHING!

My power was off for 12 hours (same as with Hurricane Matthew). I have a PEP tank in my yard. Question for those of you who have been (or were) without power for three or more days: Do you have a PEP tank in your yard?

No power since Sunday. Yard by pep tank stinks, one toilet will not flush. We are staying in a hotel that we can not afford, but the heat and smell were too much. On every side of our small area in P section they have power. What gives. Fpl pickup truck drove by and the young man said he was surveying the area….for what? That was Tuesday. Now the power restore date by fpl jumped from the 17th to the 19th.

Having worked in PR for a major utility in Florida during several hurricanes, including Andrew, when we lost our house, I can comment from experience. This is the first time I ‘ve disagreed with Pierre.

1. Quit moaning and complaining. Many of the people working 12 hours a day, in the heat, don’t have power at their own homes.
2. You and your house are not a priority. Hospitals, shelters, police and fire are. And you wouldn’t want it any other way.
3. You knew Florida has storms. Did you buy a generator?
4.The company can’t tell you when YOUR power will be restored because they don’t know. They really are working as hard as they can but they have to obey curfews, can’t work in flooded areas, don’t know how bad it is until they get to a location.
5. There are many areas in the state a lot worse than we are.
6. The PR people are trying to keep everybody calm. They are trying to avoid being flooded by class from people whining about their own places so they can concentrate on the real emergencies, you know the sick, who depend on machines to breathe, etc.
Lastly, take a moment from complaining to think about those who have lost everything in the storm. You inconvenience will be hurt lived, their lies are forever changed.

Shame Flagler County! You have people with real problems , these people are your own fellow Floridians! You are coming off as spoiled lil children who can’t be patient and realize other places are a lot worse. If you weren’t prepared that’s your own fault. Go get a hotel or do something to help yourself.

Day Seven without power — heading into day eight. After Matthew, I was out of power for just a few hours.

Here’s the real kicker: I personally just talked to someone who sent lineman from out of state to FL to help. His crews sat in their trucks for THREE DAYS doing NOTHING because the utility companies did not have the dispatchers to tell them what to do. Then, when they finally were sent out, the utilities didn’t have the parts needed.

THREE DAYS! These are crews in central and in northern Florida — in our area.

How do we get a inquiry going into what’s happening here with the power outages? People are sick and people are dying, and there is definitely mismanagement of resources. This wasn’t even a hurricane here. Maximum sustained winds never exceeded 50 mph and gusts topped out at 80, according to FlaglerLive. What is going to happen when we’re not “lucky” and get really hit. After all, it’s been twice in less than a year so far.

Bunch of whiners. Flagler Beach is still living in the 20th century with overhead utilities. Should have been buried decades ago. Yet, local residents keep electing the same bunch of boneheads to run this town, and they can’t even run their own household.

Tammany Hall’s influence waned from 1930 to 1945 when it engaged in a losing battle with Franklin D. Roosevelt, the state’s governor (1928–33) and the United States president (1933–45). In 1932, Mayor Jimmy Walker was forced from office when his bribery was exposed. Roosevelt stripped Tammany of federal patronage. Republican Fiorello La Guardia was elected mayor on a Fusion ticket and became the first anti-Tammany mayor to be re-elected. A brief resurgence in Tammany power in the 1950s under the leadership of Carmine DeSapio was met with Democratic Party opposition led by Eleanor Roosevelt, Herbert Lehman, and the New York Committee for Democratic Voters. By the mid-1960s Tammany Hall ceased to exist.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall

Should we piss away money on Donald Gump’s wall or rebuild our country?

Just got an email update from FPL. They are very, very sorry, but now they estimate power won’t be restored until end of day Tuesday. More lies…saying they just restored our main lines…and now they are getting to us…one by one…lmao…at this point…who are they trying to kid? They aren’t anywhere near the B section:

“We know it’s hard to be without power, and understand your frustration and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We are doing everything we can to return service and help get your life back to normal following Hurricane Irma.

Our restoration crews have been working to restore power safely and as quickly as possible. However, restoration in your area is taking longer than originally estimated. We now expect to have your power on by end of day Tuesday. To view information on your county, please check our Power Tracker Map.

We have finished restoring the main lines that provide power to your location. We’re now going into neighborhoods and in some cases going house by house. That is where our crews have uncovered areas of additional damage due to heavy vegetation and fallen trees. This is making restoration more challenging and is taking longer in some of these areas.

The last part of the restoration is the hardest – very manual and time-consuming. We take our commitments very seriously and realize that missing a deadline is disappointing and frustrating. Please know while there are still challenges ahead, we are out there working, 24-7, and we won’t stop until every single customer has their lights on.”

You think this is bad wait until North Korea nuks us better stock up on food and water if that happens it’s every man for them selfs they will be no FEMA or water or food being givin out. So people take control of your fate either from hurricains or war. Get your butts out of your a– and Prepare don’t depended on the government they won’t be here this is nothing just look at the keys or the islands. You been warned PREPARE!!!!!!!

The rant went on too long that I got bored but I’m guessing you’re upset about how long it’s taking to get power restored. My guess is most of, if not all all Flagler County has been restored with the exception of some isolated cases. You’re also upset with the percentage of work being given to Flagler County. So I have a few comments / questions about this: do you honestly believe Flagler County should receive more attention than the rest of the state? I know for a fact neighborhoods in Miami Dade and Orange counties that still don’t have power. I am from Miami Dade and during lesser storms people went weeks without power. Do you realize this storm hit almost our entire state? Also, let down not forget about the number of workers that left Texas for Florida. I understand your frustration but I don’t agree with your thoughts!

All of this is basically true. It is not only Flagler county, it is in others also. The only part that is wrong in this news flash is the fact that FPL has greatly hardened the system. Because most of the backbone is hardened, there has been very little damage to it because of wind. The major damage was from trees hitting the lines which FPL refuses to spend the needed money to protect it.. Its a nicely hardened system that cant take a beating from Australian pines and large oaks. I have witnessed it for over 3 decades. I really love this company but I also love this news story. I wish I had written it myself.

The real issue is the distribution of generated electrical power.
You can distribute it above or below ground.
The real solution is to eliminate the distribution issue by generating it on your property.

Thank you for this. I am over on the west coast…Manatee County. Power has been out since Sunday at 2:00 PM. For most of the week there recorded message said I would have power by Sep 22 (which is what they were saying for the west coast). Yesterday (Fri sep15) message said it would be restored by 11:45 PM. At midnight the message said today / Sep 16 11:45 PM. Power came on at 3:20 PM and off again at 4:00 PM, recorded message still said the same. At this very moment the message and the FPL site say power will be restored on Sep 20 11:45 PM. And, power is on. It’s ridiculous.

How is it possible that our little 95 person ticket in the W section is still not taken care of. After driving around yesterday evening and this evening, it seems as if our little area is the only one not taken care of. There are no extenuating circumstances preventing our area from being fixed (ie: flood, downed trees, etc). We just need FPL to actually send someone to our area. Category 1 winds with Tornado warnings should not equate to a 7 day power outage.

Ive been out in this after the hurricane heat working my but off maybe the one who wrote this should try getting out of the air conditioned building and sweat like the rest of the workers who make the world go round and maybe he would have a bit of respect for the working man. I’m tired of hearing people wine suck it up and deal with it . FPL don,t promises anything except to do its best. Take care of yourself and stop whining. I’m hot it stinks but just deal with it fpl will get the power on so everyone can sit in their homes in the air conditioning on their internet and whine so go ahead and whine, Some people sit and complain have no business doing so flagler got of easy this time yes i’m sure their are some that got a lot of damage and have hardship but i’m sure the ones who have internet to complain are not those people. god bless and stop complaining if theirs a problem go help fix it and don’t just whine about it and play the blame game,

Did people really think after a hurricane we would have power the next day. Move somewhere else. You have to expect a good week to get power back on after a storm. I’m going in 20 years and no AC, bunch of sissy’s. Learn to camp out when the power goes out or go to school to fix the power lines yourself. Gotta learn to make of what you have, bird bath it, baby wipes etc. Everyone else has the same problem so you can be sweaty and smelly with them. Put down the phone charging at McDonald’s and go outside.

This article isn’t about the fact that we don’t have electricity everywhere, but it’s mostly about the fact that FPL isn’t being straight forward. That’s the main issue. If their PR people would just say, “Yes, we had anticipated a much lower response need for your area. We are working hard restoring service to a much higher percentage of Floridians than we had anticipated.” Tristam makes a good point with emergency response! The county emergency responders need to know where the power outages are!

I think it’s completely understandable that there isn’t enough of response available. The county and city people just need to be in the know. THAT’s the main issue here.

People never fail to surprise me on how self important they are. While many south of us have no home, we are whining about power, phones, and internet connections. It could of been worse. You could have no home at all. Be thankful you are alive and have a roof over your head.

As a community, we will rebuild and recover together
Hurricane Irma dealt a devastating blow to Florida. Even though the storm has passed, we know its effect on our community hasn’t. We’re working tirelessly to help you focus on what’s important and helping things return to normal. Here’s what we’re doing to help:

Restoring power
We remain committed to getting power back on safely and as quickly as possible to help our communities get life back to normal.

Protecting your account
Whether your due date has passed or is in the future, you can rest assured your account is protected until after the effects of the storm have passed.

No late fees
Don’t worry if you’re a few days late on your bills, we have suspended all late fees until after the restoration efforts are done.

Here is my reply to FPL:

nstead of sending self serving platitudes, how about creating systems that communicate “accurate and current” information directly to your customers!?

How about not leaving us without vital electricity for over 6 days!?

How about putting the needs of your customers over the “profits” of your shareholders!? How about “requiring” the use of all copper wiring in your transformers so that they done malfunction and send 240 voltage through our 120 lines, and frying our fridge and garage door opener, and putting our home at great risk of fire!?

wow. very surprised by many of the comments on here and the ignorance of many of the people complaining to this extent about the loss of power. I see many people feel entitled to more than others. Thinking Flagler County should receive better services than anyone else in out state. It’s a lot more than just flicking a switch. There are people throughout our entire state in the same, if not worse, situation as us. i know its hot, uncomfortable and annoying but i really believe they are all doing the best that they can.

You all bitch about FPL and the service you get,I have family members in Connecticut that can’t believe how cheap our cost for power is next to what they pay.like two to three times what we pay!! Stop your crying and suck it up.

How about putting lines in the ground, how about we all live in a perfect take care of me first world. I dont have power but by god I’m thankful my home is not flooded like my neighbors in flagler beach near the intracoastal. Time to grow up people. This is not some blame Republican or Democrats, people get out of your little world and think about some of these power personal very well could been flooded or have damage. You ever for once considered the whole state is impacted not to mention what happened in TX. Take a drive to south fl and see the damage and then kiss the ground that you have a home. My brothers home in Marco Island is not fit for occupany so his family now looks for living arrangments. So ask him about power. He just might tell you piss off.

Here’s a new and bright idea, how about all you property owners, take the responsibility for removing 80′ sand pines that the root base can only gro no deeper than 4′ into the Florida hard pan be responsible for paying to remove the trees on your property at least 50′ from power lines! That’s the big scam! Not a tree in front of my house causing outages. And if you think, they probably pay milllions in right of way clearing that we all pay for in our electric bill and the only trees fpl plant, DON’T HAVE GROWING LIMBS. When they pay tree trimmers to cut back to specifications, remove them the rest of the way or at least be responsible and hire a private service to keep them from growing back into power lines. Replant with trees that will not grow taller than the pol s, they’ll even provide more shade!

All you people cry about how bad FPL is doing in Palm Coast and Flagler,we have minor problems next to the Keys and many more areas South of us.I have family in Connecticut and they can’t believe how much we pay for our power ,it cost them two to three times the amount that we pay with FPL.Stop the crying and stop being so self centered! We got enough cry baby snow flakes in this country aleady.

Work slowdown, dropping the ball, FPL and town management has done nothing but drive around looking important.Shame on all of you! Bravo to Mcdonalds for giving ice to customers.We should remember that come election time

The storm was across many states. Be thankful those who have power. I do not know where anyone did not get the memo but I knew it could be up to two weeks. People also giving help to Houston. Everyone suffered. Even Mcdonalds had many food items they had to toss. All money out the window. This was a nature. I understand the frustration, I have been unable to work and function due to this but some had live wire on ground, some with poles down. Do you work for electric company. Mind you, I have 6 children at home also. I did not see FPL but did see and I counted 12 electric trucks at Target Center. So help is here. May not be by FPL but they are out. Calm down. Florida is on the water. Move more inland crabs or go fix it yourself. Otherwise, calm down, make best of what you can and wait like the rest of us. Spoiled asses

Having lived through numerous hurricanes, I believe the power restoration this time is comparable to other major storms. For the hands on linemen, thanks. I am no big fan of FPL, but as is pointed out so well, they
have a profit mindset for their stockholders. Logic tells me FPL wants that power on as much as we do, because if the meter isn’t running, they are losing money. Of course there is always wind mills and solar panels. I wonder if they would survive any better, and how long would those repairs take.

Spectrum said no power means they can not restore internet since they share a cable and need the “all clear” first from FPL??? And No wi-fi means my cell phone absolutely doesn’t work in my home since it relies on Wi-Fi calling. Palm coast felt like 1955!!

After 4 days of no power in the R section I finally saw a truck. I nicely offered them water and asked them what it looked like for us. The driver said it could be another day or two. So I walk inside and my neighbor stops the guy. They talk for ten minutes, the truck pulls off, 15 minutes goes by and our power comes on. 5 minutes later the truck pulls back to my neighbors. Well my neighbor is a cop, he asked the guy to go see what was holding us up. 15 mins worth of work and our power was back on. Thankful I have a cop on the street but goes to show it’s not what you know it’s who you know.

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